Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
Today, we're continuing our series in 2 Peter titled Live as People Who Remember. When asking Pastor Rich questions about this theme, one child in the church commented, If you forget your house has plumbing, you'll end up going to the woods. On a weightier note, if the people of God forget who He is, what He has done, and what He promises us, the repercussions will be great. As we preach truth to ourselves, reminding ourselves of who God is, He transforms our affections and attitudes, stirring us up to good works.
The inner transformation flows out into our actions. Let's listen to this message titled Remembering Your Awesome Grant by Faith stirs up virtue and knowledge. This is part two of a message first preached on May 14th, 2023 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for the food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
That's the same word, supply. So what is it that you are called to do? You are adding to, not adding to faith, because the whole point of faith is the object of your faith, but in your walk of faith, you are nourishing that walk of faith. Also, Galatians chapter three, verse five, He who supplies the spirit to you, that's the same word, supply, supplement. So here's my understanding of the meaning. I've got some help with this, all right, but here's what Peter is calling you to in verse five as he says, make every effort to supplement your faith.
You ready for this? It's in your notes. Nurture and bring to outward expression what is yours in Christ. In Christ. Nurture and bring to outward expression what is yours in Christ.
The wealth that is yours in Christ based on the promises of Jesus Christ. Nurture that and bring it to outward expression. Incarnate the inward reality. And how do we nurture? We nurture by, what does Peter call us to?
Remember. We nurture our faith by remembering the wealth that is ours in Christ. We meditate on it. We grow in grace. Live, swim in, delight in the grace of God, constantly, daily, light in the grace of God, constantly, day by day.
It's not just the diving board. Grow in grace. As Peter concludes this letter, the last words written by the Apostle Peter in the canon of scripture, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
That's what he wants us to remember. So nurture and bring to outward expression what is yours in Christ. That's to grow in grace. It's living constantly by what Paul said up here. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
Nurture that and bring that to outward expression. And we first, our first duty in nurturing that is remembering it, not forgetting it. Look down at verse 10 with me. Second Peter chapter 1 verse 10.
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. Look at verse 9. Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Do you see how important it is? Why he's calling us to live as people who remember.
If I am negligent about remembering the wealth that is mine in Christ, then I will live as if I don't even have that wealth. In other words, the illustration that I used of going down to North Point Dodge Ram and buying this shiny new truck with all the accessories, and you crank it up, you take it home, you leave it parked outside of the garage because you want your neighbors to see that truck. And you talk about it. You wake up the next morning and you've misplaced the keys. So what you decide to do is put it in gear and shove it around town. And that makes no sense because you know why? Eventually, you're going to get tired of pushing that truck around, and you're going to leave it in your garage. And you're going to leave it in your garage, and it'll just be something you talk about, but it makes no difference in your life. This is what happens to people who forget their wealth in Christ. They have no power in their walk of faith.
So crank the engine, gear it up, hit the gas, and enjoy the power. This is a portrait. And what Peter is presenting here is a portrait of a walk of faith. This is what walking in faith looks like, as walking as people who remember. And why he says supplement your faith, why? Because faith is foundational. None of this is true if you're not in the faith. If you have not placed your faith in Jesus Christ, none of this is true for you. It can't be because faith is foundational. So all of this that's in these next several verses, all of this and the promises of verses three and four, becoming a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world, all of this is supplied to the one who has surrendered in trust to Jesus Christ.
That's what faith means. You have surrendered yourself in trust to Jesus Christ. You have received his righteousness. You have received his right. You've not achieved it. You have received his righteousness.
It's the doctrine of imputation. You are justified before holy God, you, I, in Christ. We are justified. We are reconciled to God. Not only that, we are regenerated. We are indwelt with his Holy Spirit. That's what it means to be a partaker of the divine nature. You see the realities?
We must know what these things mean. We must know the difference that they make in our lives. And we're not going to, if we forget about them, let alone contemplate them and study them and nurture them. This is the reality of being in Christ. So remembering your awesome grant by faith stirs up virtue and knowledge.
So let's look at verse five again. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue. Supplement your faith with virtue. What is virtue? It is the outflow of the inward righteousness that is yours. You incarnate the character of Christ. The inward reality of the righteousness that is yours. It starts with transformed affections and attitudes. Incarnate your Christ-like attitudes.
It starts with a transformation of what you love and how you think. That's why God gives us his spirit and his word. And this is in contrast to the folly of an unregenerate life.
Folly foolishness is just simply living for the immediate without any thought of consequence or outcome. That's what children do. That's why children desperately need parents. But some children never grow up.
I mean, they become in big bodies, but they're still children because they think and act like children. In other words, they pursue immediate gratification all the time. That's childish. It's folly. It's foolishness. And the word of God rescues us from that. The grace of God rescues us from that. Immediate gratification, avoiding sacrifice or risk.
What is that? That's purely self-centeredness. And the gospel rescues us from that. And all this is part of virtue. Paul, as he's writing to the church at Colossae, his prayer for them is that they are filled with the knowledge of his will, fruitful in every good work. Filled with the knowledge of his will, fruitful in every good. You see how the fruit is the outflow of the transformed heart and mind. John says it very, very clearly. Whoever abides in him does not sin. That thing about what that abiding in. He was talking about Jesus, the branch abiding in the vine, the branch abiding in the tree.
Why does that branch produce fruit? Because it's pushing and trying hard? No, because it's abiding in the life source. Listen to me, folks. That's where you need to be labor intensive. Are you abiding, drawing life from the life source?
You can't marginalize that. That has to be paramount. Because apart from that, you will not produce fruit that glorifies God. So in us, we have the righteousness of Christ. The righteousness of Christ. That is the reality that exists in us.
I think we're onto the next slide here. We have the righteousness of Christ. That is a promise of God. And that righteousness of Christ becomes a habit of thought for me.
I contemplate that. I meditate on that. I remember that, that I have his righteousness. It's not up to me simply to try harder to be better. It's not up to me to do all the things I'm supposed to to try to make God happy with me.
That's pagan religion. That's not grace. I have the righteousness of Christ. Know that. Contemplate that.
Remember that. And when that reality becomes a habit of thought for me, it will manifest in moral excellence. That's how grace works. Because God has invested himself in me. This is how Peter means supplement your faith with virtue. Incarnate the inward reality. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
